Ordering my equipment in one week! All opinions welcomed.

FamMan said:

Bu thanx about the hoods and their footprint. I will have to do some research. I read a fairly high score for them on greners.com on a reflector comparison. I will have to go reread it.

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I cant argue about the ballast that you chose. I personally dont buy into spending double even triple the amount of money if I bought a different brand. From all the reading that I have done Intensity is way more important than quality. I know its usually the other way around with most things. While you are getting a better ballast I dont think the price is justifiable unless it had a killer warranty. Reliability should be your fist concern. The ballasts that i showed you last week have a 3 year warranty which says alot. Light quality wont come into play until you start using something like the spectrum king 400. Essentially I think its a waste of money to get such an expensive ballast. If you worried about light quality then spend that money on better bulbs and reflectors. The tent you are looking at is also way overpriced. I got a high quality tent for 140.00. I promise the tent you are looking at is no better than what I bought! I will send you some pics if you would like to see them. For all the money I can save you, you could buy another hood , bulb and ballast. I promise you the stuff is not junk. I believe in quality verses quantity as well and never pinch pennies if I think it will fuck me in the long run. Spend the extra money on quality nutes and even an RO unit. If you want I will post what I would buy and I promise your grow wont suffer. I'm not a sucker for brand names . Somethings there is no better alternative. In the end its your cash. I promise I am not making money from anything I am trying to push. Well good luck growing. You cant go wrong with what you want to buy, you can just do it much cheaper. KISS rule is the best thing to keep in mind

I would love to see some pics. I dont know what warrenty comes with the ballast. I will check smething i should have already done. I would also to see how u would do this setup. If i can save mny and still get quality products and quality results im all for it! Thank you for candidness and time old soul.

FamMan said:

I would love to see some pics. I dont know what warrenty comes with the ballast. I will check smething i should have already done. I would also to see how u would do this setup. If i can save mny and still get quality products and quality results im all for it! Thank you for candidness and time old soul.

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absolutely. i am eating lunch then will put together a decent slide sow with prices and links. you can choose from there. some people just believe that you need to spend lots of money or its no good. ever since china opened trade with US they just copy or clone whatever they want. Some things are EXACTLY the same. there is no patent laws in china, they dont have to do any research and development, they operate under virtually no restrictions or guidelines and manufacture the components needed to build it anyway. That spectrum king will prob be half the price next year because someone in china cloned it. I will be back in a bit with pics

Awesome enjoy ur lunch!

the phantom ballast comes with 3 year warranty also

that apollo ballast has a fan. i read that no fan means better ballast. correct me if im wrong.

OK here goes I bought the tent for 140.00 , free shipping for a 4x8 the only issue that I did have but fixed was the lighter to burn the vinyl fabric so it stopped unraveling. No big deal if you ask me. That is the only complaint. It has so many ports for any type of setup. The material is thick, lightproof and very air tight but has nice adjustable velcro vents and doors on the front and back. Now some will argue about the lights but I am telling you DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE! If they have a warranty you are good to go. Read reviews to make sure they are reliable. I personally like the apollo 600 watt set up. a ballast alone is 85.00 or so free shipping but you can get two bulbs, choice of 5 different hoods, ratchet hangers, timer, and a 3 year warranty on equipment and a 1 year warranty on bulbs. The warranty says it all for me. I was looking at the one you were looking at and didn't see any mention of a warranty. I dont care if its made by BMW, no warranty, no purchase! The vendor should be comfortable backing their product. The hoods that come optional just like the bulbs and everything else are essentially the same as the ones you are looking at and are mediocre. They end up costing maybe 40 bux each when you buy them in the package. If you are going to spent 150.00 or more on hoods then I would get something that doesn't look like a 40.00 clone. See what I'm saying. The knock off still has glass and all just 110.00 cheaper! Anyway for the whole setup with hoods, bulbs, ballast, hangers and timer is 180.00! Like I was saying if you want the so called "quality light" then buy the better bulb like hortilux. I am happy with the ones I got. I get a pound of dried bud from 4 plants in a 4x4 area with this setup. Cant get much better results especially that justify the price difference! Now I dont have this charcoal filter as I made my own from an old air purifier. I modded the filter to hold charcoal. For 130.00 you can get the fan and filter! let me tell you that fan isnt going to turn any different than the one you were looking at. Now you can get the tent from the same guy that sells the lights for a bit more but he may have the size you want.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171237765850?
_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&var=470342514843&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121544343930?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VenTech-4-6-Inch-Inline-Booster-Blower-Fan-w-Carbon-Scrubber-Air-Filter-/181379661233?ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

I have some thinking and research to do now. thank you for your time old soul. i truly appreciate it. btw have you ever owned different equipment other than the things pictured?

FamMan said:

I have some thinking and research to do now. thank you for your time old soul. i truly appreciate it. btw have you ever owned different equipment other than the things pictured?

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Great question! Yes but only have 6 grows under my belt. I saw a noticable difference between cfl and hps then each incriment in watage I have grown under a 250w DE , 400 watt mh/hps, 600 watt mh/hps and CFLs. I used three different brand ballasts with the 250s and didnt notice any difference. the one was a hamilton technologies, an industry favorite in aquarium lighting where the quality of light really matters. the other was an odysea. The only difference I noticed was that the cheaper ballast fired better when plugged straight into the wall rather than an extension cord. The appolo ballast that I use to grow fire up instantly.

OldSoul777 said:

Great question! Yes but only have 6 grows under my belt.

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I hate to criticize......wait that’s a lie I love it......but if you refer to your experience as in I've done "x amount of grows" you shouldn't be giving advice, you should be listening to it.

- Jiji

jijiandfarmgang said:

I hate to criticize......wait that’s a lie I love it......but if you refer to your experience as in I've done "x amount of grows" you shouldn't be giving advice, you should be listening to it.

- Jiji

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i wouldnt give advice if I wasnt sure. Feel free to chime in. I understand the photosynthesis and the importance between light quality and intensity. I got my info from www.dudegrows.com podcast 64. I was completely honest with this guy. Just because I only have 6 grows dont mean what I saying is incorrect and if it is then please correct me!

FamMan said:

that apollo ballast has a fan. i read that no fan means better ballast. correct me if im wrong.

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Yes it has a fan. not sure about weather it means one is better than the other. It may just be a bit bigger and have extra cooling fins which equals extra surface area which equates to better cooling, hence no fan. Just a guess though.